World of Warcraft players don’t need to wait until March 2 to play a bunch of Midnight’s major features

World of Warcraft has officially confirmed January 20, 2026, as the release date for the Midnight Pre-Expansion content update. Players can enjoy the Devourer Demon Hunter, revamped class talent trees, transmog updates, and more content from World of Warcraft: Midnight once the update goes live, with the Pre-Patch and Winds of Mysterious Fortune event coming the week after.

The Midnight expansion officially hits World of Warcraft on March 2, bringing with it a ton of new content. Four new zones, including a revamp of Quel’Thalas and Zul’Aman, eight dungeons, three raids, and a raised level cap of 90 await fans in the second chapter of the Worldsoul Saga, where they must stop Xal’atath from taking control of the Sunwell in her schemes to devour the heart of Azeroth.

World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Patch Update Arrives January 20

Image via Blizzard

However, players won’t have to wait until next March to start playing a lot of the major features of Midnight. On January 20, the World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Expansion content update goes live, along with a bunch of core features from the DLC. Perhaps some of the most game-changing aspects of this update will be overhauls to every single class and specialization in the game, with a new design philosophy geared towards straightforward class rotations, stronger class identities, and less button bloat. Additionally, the Devourer Demon Hunter specialization will be added to World of Warcraft, as will the ability for Void Elves to choose the Demon Hunter class.

• January 20
  • New Demon Hunter specialization: Devourer
  • New Race/Class combination: Void Elf Demon Hunters
  • Talent tree and class design overhauls
  • Stat and Item Level squish
  • User Interface Updates: Raid frames, display scaling controls, customization options, nameplates, Damage Meter, Boss Alerts, and more
  • Transmogrification 2.0 update
  • Player vs. Player Training Grounds
• January 27
  • Pre-Expansion event
  • Winds of Mysterious Fortune event

Outside of classes, fans will also experience a stat and item level squish to make numbers more reasonable. Characters will no longer deal hundreds of thousands of damage to creatures with millions of health, but their general power level will remain the same, though players shouldn’t be surprised if there are some scaling hiccups that appear in the process. Additionally, new UI options like the Damage Meter and Boss Alerts will be added, as will a complete overhaul to World of Warcraft’s transmogrification system. Lastly, the PvP Training Grounds feature will be added to get fans used to the system by facing off against game-controlled opponents.

Pre-Patch Event for World of Warcraft: Midnight Starts January 27

Image via Blizzard

Then, on January 27, two new events will kick off: the Pre-Expansion event and the Winds of Mysterious Fortune. The former will allow players to experience a preamble to the conflicts of Midnight featuring Grand Magister Rommath and Magister Umbric as they confront the Twilight’s Blade cult, all while obtaining catch-up gear and cosmetics. Meanwhile, the latter offers a boost to both experience and reputation gains, as well as extra leveling gear, making it the perfect time to get alts leveled and geared up for Midnight.

Image via Blizzard

This release date doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as all signs pointed towards January 20 as Pre-Patch day for World of Warcraft: Midnight. Legion Remix wraps up on January 19, and with about six weeks between it and the release of Midnight, it was bound to happen around that time, especially since most Pre-Patch events have historically run for just over a month ahead of the expansion.

Image via Blizzard

The best part about the Pre-Expansion update is that fans don’t need to own Midnight to enjoy it. While they will need to pre-purchase World of Warcraft: Midnight to go above level 80, enter the new zones and instances, or experience Housing once the expansion goes live, all the content coming in the Pre-Patch update are core features that every player will be able to enjoy, even without the DLC.

Speaking of which, Housing early access went live in World of Warcraft Patch 11.2.7. Fans need to own Midnight in order to purchase a house, but all players can visit Neighborhoods and start collecting decor from all sorts of content, from crafting and reputation rewards to legacy dungeons and raids. Once Midnight itself releases, fans can expect even more Housing features to be implemented, including Blood and Night Elf house exteriors and Endeavors.

Systems

Released

2026

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

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